I previously subscribed to Sirius and XM. I now subscribe to XM. These are my opinions, since we already have an insane XM vs. Sirius thread in Entertainment.
The music on both services are hit or miss. XM still has "the most" commercial free music (69 channels). 4 channels are controlled by Clear Channel and they have chosen (against XM's word) to air advertisements. Sirius plays the more popular hits while XM goes a bit deeper in the playlists. Sirius may still have the better rock channels, although XM's made some strides in Liquid Metal and Big Tracks. The decade channels are what they are...although Sirius technically doesn't have 90's channel.
For sports and talk, it's purely a matter of preference. If you want to join the Howard "revolution"...or whatever he's calling it now...then Sirius is your answer. If you want NFL, NBA, or English soccer action, go with Sirius. XM will have hockey for the next 9 years...8 which are exclusive. They also have MLB for the next 7 years. XM also has Opie and Anthony and Ron and Fez, which contrary to Sirius zombies, are actually doing well on XM and appear to be getting their own channels.
Technology clearly goes to XM. When I had Sirius, I could use my receiver as a space heater. The chipset just wasn't up to par and a battery drain. I hear it's more improved in the upcoming receivers, but we'll see. Sirius is making their strides in improving technology...but XM is already working on their 3rd generation portable now while Sirius just released their first.
Reception and quality was what sold me on XM. You can have a handful of satellites hovering all over North America, but you won't get signal around mountains and in cities. Both companies need to rely on a strong repeater network on the ground that will bounce signals around buildings, and sometimes through buildings. XM spent millions on an extensive repeater network (around 1,000 repeaters), Sirius spent it on Howard. Sirius' signal (back in early 2005) dropped frequently for me in Raleigh, NC. And I'd have the antenna aimed in the open air...and I'd have at most one bar. I only hope it's improved, considering their first true portable unit is about to hit the market.
All in all, it's a matter of preference. If you need Howard and the NFL and NBA and Martha Stewart, go with Sirius. If you want the NHL, MLB, O&A, and have a soft spot for Oprah...go with XM. You can adjust to the music.
The music on both services are hit or miss. XM still has "the most" commercial free music (69 channels). 4 channels are controlled by Clear Channel and they have chosen (against XM's word) to air advertisements. Sirius plays the more popular hits while XM goes a bit deeper in the playlists. Sirius may still have the better rock channels, although XM's made some strides in Liquid Metal and Big Tracks. The decade channels are what they are...although Sirius technically doesn't have 90's channel.
For sports and talk, it's purely a matter of preference. If you want to join the Howard "revolution"...or whatever he's calling it now...then Sirius is your answer. If you want NFL, NBA, or English soccer action, go with Sirius. XM will have hockey for the next 9 years...8 which are exclusive. They also have MLB for the next 7 years. XM also has Opie and Anthony and Ron and Fez, which contrary to Sirius zombies, are actually doing well on XM and appear to be getting their own channels.
Technology clearly goes to XM. When I had Sirius, I could use my receiver as a space heater. The chipset just wasn't up to par and a battery drain. I hear it's more improved in the upcoming receivers, but we'll see. Sirius is making their strides in improving technology...but XM is already working on their 3rd generation portable now while Sirius just released their first.
Reception and quality was what sold me on XM. You can have a handful of satellites hovering all over North America, but you won't get signal around mountains and in cities. Both companies need to rely on a strong repeater network on the ground that will bounce signals around buildings, and sometimes through buildings. XM spent millions on an extensive repeater network (around 1,000 repeaters), Sirius spent it on Howard. Sirius' signal (back in early 2005) dropped frequently for me in Raleigh, NC. And I'd have the antenna aimed in the open air...and I'd have at most one bar. I only hope it's improved, considering their first true portable unit is about to hit the market.
All in all, it's a matter of preference. If you need Howard and the NFL and NBA and Martha Stewart, go with Sirius. If you want the NHL, MLB, O&A, and have a soft spot for Oprah...go with XM. You can adjust to the music.
Good , why don't you flush your XM down the toilet and go **** your mother.
XM's receivers are so far ahead (tech wise) of Sirius there really isnt much of a choice. In addition to NHL, XM also has MLB and College Football. Bob Dylan's music show is really good, as is Snoop Dogg's.
I have both. XM by far. The Hockey coverage is definitely more extensive on XM, and as previously mentioned, will be exclusive to XM beginning next year. The music is infinitely times better as well, but that may be a function of my particular taste.
Absolutely, it all comes down to taste and preferences. Especially with the music...it's pretty much the same, except XM seems to have deeper playlists...which is not what some people want.
XM is a must for hockey fans though...especially in areas where hockey talk and hockey news is unheard of on terrestrial radio and TV...or in other words...most of the States. XM has channels set aside for the NHL, which Sirius will typically pre-empt other channels for hockey games. And the big seller is XM 204, which is all hockey talk. I believe Sirius has a 2 hour NHL talk show that is either weekly or daily, I'm not sure. But the show goes into hiatus during the offseason...while XM continues their live talk through the summer. They've sort of copied (hoo...hoo) the MLB baseball lineup on XM...which was a good idea because the MLB lineup works well.
XM will have the NHL exclusive for the next 8 years after this one...and there's even talk about expanding the coverage and marketing after this season, since I believe Sirius still owns the exclusive rights to the NHL property logos for the remainder of their contract.
XM is a must for hockey fans though...especially in areas where hockey talk and hockey news is unheard of on terrestrial radio and TV...or in other words...most of the States. XM has channels set aside for the NHL, which Sirius will typically pre-empt other channels for hockey games. And the big seller is XM 204, which is all hockey talk. I believe Sirius has a 2 hour NHL talk show that is either weekly or daily, I'm not sure. But the show goes into hiatus during the offseason...while XM continues their live talk through the summer. They've sort of copied (hoo...hoo) the MLB baseball lineup on XM...which was a good idea because the MLB lineup works well.
XM will have the NHL exclusive for the next 8 years after this one...and there's even talk about expanding the coverage and marketing after this season, since I believe Sirius still owns the exclusive rights to the NHL property logos for the remainder of their contract.
RangerBoy
Dolan sucks!!!
Sirius has the NFL,NBA,NASCAR(in January)and Howard.XM only has MLB.The NHL is not a big sports property.It's not.Look at how many subscribers have joined Sirius since Howard made his annoucement two years ago.XM had to pimp off O&A to Infinity because they weren't bringing subscribers to XM.Why would anyone have XM for O&A when you can hear most of their stupid show for free?
I have listened to the hockey shows on XM.If I need a hockey fix,I will listen to Leafs Lunch
I have listened to the hockey shows on XM.If I need a hockey fix,I will listen to Leafs Lunch
RangerBoy
Dolan sucks!!!
Howard's show is from 6-11.Monday-Thursday.Most of the time,he goes past 11.The Friday Show is a must listen because they play old clips from Howard in Detroit,WNBC and the old K-Rock stuff
Sirius has content.Howard is content.What does XM have?
aside from working only 4 days a week, you forgot to mention the part where he takes a few months off during the course of the year.
yeah, id love to be paying for that "content"
GKJ
Global Moderator
- Feb 27, 2002
- 186,623
- 38,601
Actually the Sirius portable is great. You could record a sporting event and then listen to a couple of days later. Just avoid all tv and newspapers so you won't hear the score. Who really wants to listen to sporting events live anyway?
i guess the same people who consider it a selling point when their star takes short work weeks and plays 20 year old material instead.
The Stiletto is clearly Sirius' introduction into the live portable market, and there are bugs with any first gen product. It's a great portable for some people though I have heard that the antenna headphones are too uncomfortable and the signal off the dock is not really good. When I hear people say that the signal strength is good except under trees and when it's cloudy out and what not, I find it hard to believe that it's a must have. You'd be better off waiting for Sirius to improve their repeater network and not have to rely on finding wi-fi hotspots in order to get only a portion of Sirius' content (the wi-fi service doesn't include all channels).
Live sporting events are obviously better to watch on TV. But sometimes sporting fans have to do stuff that takes them away from TV, which leaves radio as an only option. Sure, you can record it on TV and watch it later, but some people feel anxious and need to know ASAP. Also, especially with MLB baseball...alot of people are at work during the 160+ game season. It's hard to catch every single game, and knowing that the game is available on the radio is just huge and you can generally go anywhere with it.
Howard generally is the only content that can draw subscribers on the service. What else is there...Martha?...Bubba?...Richard Simmons? It's just Howard, football (which most people try to be home on the weekends to watch games), and music. Not a real bad combo, but still not enough to turn a profit. You know the state of satellite radio is bad when the almighty Howard Stern can't convince 80% of his listeners to follow him over to Sirius. Either that, or it's a pure indication that majority of Howard's listeners were casual and could live without him throwing f-bombs out there for a fee.
Baseball is XM's largest draw. It's a game made for radio since there are so many games in the season, and alot of people are at work or away from TV during games. It's also a huge opportunity for marketing. You have rights to sell through the teams and one of the best sporting leagues in the world with XM logos tattooed over it for the next 10 years. Not that bad. I know Opie and Anthony are failing all over the place because they keep getting more exposure.
They failed on XM, so CBS gave them 7 markets and signed a 4 year deal. They kept failing on XM and CBS, so CBS gave them about 10 more markets. They kept failing on XM/CBS some more, that Citadel broadcasting wanted to give them 10 markets as well. They continue to fail on XM, so XM has now given them their own channel and allowed them to name it The Virus. Boy they must really suck. 
Baseball is XM's largest draw. It's a game made for radio since there are so many games in the season, and alot of people are at work or away from TV during games. It's also a huge opportunity for marketing. You have rights to sell through the teams and one of the best sporting leagues in the world with XM logos tattooed over it for the next 10 years. Not that bad. I know Opie and Anthony are failing all over the place because they keep getting more exposure.
They failed on XM, so CBS gave them 7 markets and signed a 4 year deal. They kept failing on XM and CBS, so CBS gave them about 10 more markets. They kept failing on XM/CBS some more, that Citadel broadcasting wanted to give them 10 markets as well. They continue to fail on XM, so XM has now given them their own channel and allowed them to name it The Virus. Boy they must really suck. By the way, while in downtown Toronto tonight I passed by the XM studio. I actually had no idea XM's Canadian content (I guess mostly the NHL station) was done out of Toronto. I figured it was boadcast from XM's main studio (wherever that is... New York?).
robert terwilliger
the bart, the
Yeah, XM has a few studios that broadcast certain channels. I believe Sirius is strictly NYC, but I think they're also in Montreal and Los Angeles.
XM has two studios in NYC, one that broadcasts O&A, R&F, and a few special events, and the other that broadcasts that Jazz channels, Franks Place, Bluesville, and a few of the other channels.
They have a studio in Nashville, which broadcasts the country channels and I believe Open Road.
The studio in Toronto broadcasts all 10 Canadian channels.
There's also XM offices in Florida and Los Angeles, but I don't know if they broadcast out of there.
XM HQ in DC handles the rest of the lineup.
XM has two studios in NYC, one that broadcasts O&A, R&F, and a few special events, and the other that broadcasts that Jazz channels, Franks Place, Bluesville, and a few of the other channels.
They have a studio in Nashville, which broadcasts the country channels and I believe Open Road.
The studio in Toronto broadcasts all 10 Canadian channels.
There's also XM offices in Florida and Los Angeles, but I don't know if they broadcast out of there.
XM HQ in DC handles the rest of the lineup.
